Return to the Lakes - A Long Drive

This is my first time holidaying in the Lake District for nearly 40 years, the trip was initially prompted by Bluebird being displayed in the Ruskin Museum on Coniston however there’s been a huge spanner chucked in the works - they’re running the boat this week! 

I’d forgotten how long a drive it is to the Lakes but I did break the journey at The West Lancashire Light Railway. It’s not really a heritage railway as such, having been started by five schoolboys on land belonging to a clay pit but it’s pleasant and friendly, the line is only 400 yards long so it takes as long for the engine to run around at each end as the actual journey does. They have quite a few narrow gauge steam locos, mostly bought from North Wales quarries, including the oddly named Irish Mail, the sister to Covertcoat at the Launceston Railway; apparently the owner of the quarries at Dinorwic had run out of family members to name his engines after so he started using his racehorses - these two are named after the horses that came first and second in the 1913 Grand National. The engine in steam today was Sybil, a 1906 Bagnall. 

I took plenty of photos of the site as I feel a model coming on for a future project. 

The blocks on the platform are similar to ones on the current model build - photo taken for colour purposes!

One concern I had on the drive up was the limited parking at the hotel and how far away I might end up. Sure enough the car park looked absolutely full but thankfully a family were just getting into their car ready to leave - I had to wait a few minutes as they’d got young kids to sort out but I was soon parked and supping the first pint of the trip, followed by a delicious roast pork bun. 

Once I’d lunched and checked in I decided to go for a short wander round. This was partly to see how my sciatica would behave, in the end the answer was OK. I managed the walk down to the lake, had the mandatory ice cream and a slow walk back up the hill to the hotel; I wouldn’t want to go much further but at least I know I can do a bit. 

Although Bluebird K7 and Coniston were a major reason for coming to the area it will be very busy and there’ll be parking issues. I could see if the Blue Badge helped but getting round would probably be tricky so I’ve decided to look for alternatives, Kendal is one possibility or I may even spend two days locally, one cruising on Windermere and the other visiting Bowness and Windermere town on the scooter.